McCain staffer slams Dungeons and Dragons players

[Braithwaite]

Michael Goldfarb wrote:

"It may be typical of the pro-Obama Dungeons & Dragons crowd to disparage a fellow countryman's memory of war from the comfort of mom's basement, but most Americans have the humility and gratitude to respect and learn from the memories of men who suffered on behalf of others."

don't take my word for it. its still on his website. http://www.johnmccain.com/mccainreport/
Posted at 5:08 PM on 8/18/2008 by Michael Goldfarb
Smears the Left Can Fight For, 4th paragraph

PLEASE do not use this thread to slam Senator McCain (which will only get this thread closed, which it may be anyway). I am posting this to let other gamers know of the comment. I am offended enough to want an apology or retraction from the campaign, which will only happen if he gets enough complaints to realize that we pay attention and we vote.

[altpersona]

they are abviously unaware of the number of gamers, and Igamers who are registered voters...

and

while i appreciate your request to not slam mccain in this thread... i may do it anyway...

not that i like obama, not after the telcom crap.

my formal position is that choosing the lesser evil is still choosing evil..

i just wish that the vietnamese, while beating the hell out of mccain, had left his spine in tack...

i dont just disparage him from a basement, but as a vet my self (10yrs), i say he is a coward and a traitor... the only way you survive year after year after year after year of pow inturnment is to talk, sing if you will... its just my opinion, i have no proof, and i claim no first hand knowledge... but the only reason i would let someone live is if they cooperated... the follow up of course being that he is now ok with torturing prisoners.. please someone can i at least vote for nixon or johnson hell, i prefer putin to mccain...

ok, it looks like i may have ranted abit, i apologize..

please dont close the thread because of my rant... i would just rather walk with a mclimp than with a mccain..

[Psychic Robot]

Well, hopefully this will end less retardedly than the WotC version.  I don't get what D&D has to do with voting tendencies.  I mean, I guess the Jack Chick crowd hate on the D&Ders, but I'm thinking that he was just being a huge dick.

[Bozwevial]

Okay, where did that remark come from? The rest of the article isn't even related, it's like he simply threw this in as an aside. "Oh, by the way, you guys suck. Just thought you ought to know." Have we done something that merits this sort of comment? I thought not.

It's also a gross stereotype. I'd be willing to bet that there may be a bit of uproar over this.

[AndyJames]

Who is this Michael character in the campaign? The office boy?

[Mister_Sinister]

This is precisely what I hate most in humanity - judging a large group for no reason, just to be an asshole. Yeah, smooth move. Very smooth.

[Guyr Adamantine]

I like politics: Everything is worth a kick in the balls, especially toward people unlikely to vote for you.

(Which is kinda stupid, as they are only less likely to vote for you after)

[ImperiousLeader]

Fascinating.

Goldfarb is a typical Republican chickenhawk neo-con. He was a member of the Project for the New American Century, which was calling for an American invasion of Iraq back when Clinton was in charge.

Such an odd attack, though. Wonder why we drew such a comment.

[PhoenixInferno]

I love how McCain claims to be a Roosevelt Republican but subscribes to Neo-Conservative policies.

I want the old McCain back.

[Psychic Robot]

I love how McCain claims to be a Roosevelt Republican but subscribes to Neo-Conservative policies.

I want the old McCain back.

I want politics to DIAF.  Elections should really just be decided by a flip of a coin, 'cause most people are too stupid to have their vote count.

[Talisman]

 
I'm not a vet, but my father fought in Vietnam, and two of my gaming buddies have served in the military.

And there was that one guy who joined the army rather than complete the campaign...he was a weird guy.

[NecroticBanana]

i think McCain is just bitter cause he played D&D for three hours...then was slain by an elf. 

[Mister_Sinister]

i think McCain is just bitter cause he played D&D for three hours...then was slain by an elf. 

With a greataxe!

[Guyr Adamantine]

i think McCain is just bitter cause he played D&D for three hours...then was slain by an elf. 

No. Jack Chick was playing a Frenzied Berserker which "accidently" killed McCain's character. Chick was kicked out of the group by the DM, as it wasn't the first intra-party murder on his belt.
He swore vengeance against the whole D&D community.

McCain was scarred for life, so he looked for a more stable background. He got into politics, ready, deep in his heart, to strike at the game (and people playing the game) that threw his life away one last time.

*Look at the setting sun*

A true, american hero...

[Callix]

Seriously, what does D&D have to do with voting tendencies? Unless he's trying for a "too young to lead"/"only playing at president" angle, he's just offending a bunch of (reasonably split/apolitical) people for no reason. Any gamer who thought about voting McCain will be thinking twice, and those who might've voted for Obama are all the more likely to, to keep him out of office.

It's just bad politics; insulting a whole demographic for an obscure, sideways attack in a soundbite. Then again, staffers make slip-ups.

I want an apology to the gamer community, but I think the politics are more interesting, TBH.

[RobbyPants]

Have you seen Goldfarb's pre-emptive apology to his earlier comments?  It's complete and utter pandering.

If my comments caused any harm or hurt to the hard working Americans who play Dungeons & Dragons, I apologize. This campaign is committed to increasing the strength, constitution, dexterity, intelligence, wisdom, and charisma scores of every American.

[Sunic_Flames]

...

*facepaws*

[Prime32]

[Callix]

Staffer makes stupid statement, then apologises in a hurricane of puns. News at 11.

[Melblen_Cairn]

But Charisma is a dump stat.....